Main electronic device for communicating within a network and method for operating a main electronic device for communicating within the network

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a main electronic device for communicating within a network comprising an interface for enabling communication within the network and a controller for sending polling messages via the network to logical addresses via said interface in order to request information from at least one further electronic device. 
     The present invention further relates to a method for operating a main electronic device for communicating within a network.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of, and claims thebenefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §120 from, U.S. application Ser. No.14/960,808, filed Dec. 7, 2015, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 14/256,649, filed Apr. 18, 2014 (now U.S. Pat. No.9,237,083), which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.13/765,284, filed Feb. 12, 2013 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,775,706), which isa continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/446,653, filed Apr. 13,2012 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,392,639) the entire contents of each of whichis incorporated herein by reference. U.S. application Ser. No.13/446,653 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,392,639) is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 12/175,739, filed Jul. 18, 2008 (now U.S. Pat. No.8,171,197 B2) and claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §119from European Patent Application No. 07 115 942.0, filed Sep. 7, 2007.

The present invention relates to a main electronic device forcommunicating within a network and to a method for operating a mainelectronic device for communicating within a network. Specifically, thepresent invention relates to the field of requesting information fromdevices connected by a network.

In general, electronic devices are used in a wide field of applications.Such electronic devices may for example be a personal computer, atelevision, a video recorder, a DVD or HDD recorder, facsimile devices,digital cameras, mobile terminals for wireless communication or otherelectronic consumer devices. An important task in developing electronicdevices is to enable the devices to be connected to a network or toother electronic devices and to communicate with each other.

When connecting electronic devices either directly or via a network itis important to know which electronic devices presently are connectedand to request information on the status and type of the connectedelectronic devices.

It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a mainelectronic device as well as a method for operating a main electronicdevice enabling to request information from further electronic devicesconnected by a network.

This object is solved by a main electronic device for communicatingwithin a network according to claim 1 and by a method for operating amain electronic device for communicating within a network according toclaim 1 and by a method for operating a main electronic device forcommunicating within a network according to claim 11.

The present invention relates to a main electronic device forcommunicating within a network comprising an interface for enablingcommunication within the network and a controller for sending pollingmessages via the network to logical addresses via said interface inorder to request information from at least one further electronicdevice.

The present invention further relates to a method for operating a mainelectronic device for communicating within a network comprising thesteps of enabling communication within the network and sending pollingmessages via the network to logical addresses via said interface inorder to request information from at least one further electronicdevice.

Preferably, the controller is adapted to send the polling messages afterswitching the main electronic device on.

Further, preferably, the controller is adapted to send the pollingmessages after enabling the communication functionality, preferablyafter enabling the consumer electronics control CEC function, of themain electronic device.

Further, optionally, the controller after enabling the communicationfunctionality of the main device and before sending the polling messagesis adapted to send enable messages to each of the further electronicdevices for enabling communication functionality, preferably forenabling the consumer electronics control CEC function, of each of thefurther electronic devices.

Advantageously, the controller is adapted to repeatedly send the pollingmessages.

In a preferred embodiment the controller is adapted to send the pollingmessages at predefined time intervals.

Preferably, the controller is adapted to send the polling messages toall logical addresses within the network except the logical addressoccupied by the main electronic device.

Advantageously, the controller is adapted to poll the logical addressesin a predefined order.

Preferably, the controller is adapted to poll the logical address firstwhich is less likely to be occupied by an electronic device.

In a preferred embodiment, the controller is adapted to poll the logicaladdresses within a CEC network in the order from logical address 14 tological address 0.

The present invention will now be explained in more detail in thefollowing description of preferred embodiments in relation to theenclosed drawings in which

FIG. 1 shows a network comprising a main electronic device according tothe present invention,

FIG. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of a main electronic deviceaccording to the present invention,

FIGS. 3a and 3b are flow charts showing the process step of a firstmethod according to the present invention and

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the process steps of a second methodaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows several electronic devices 1 a to 1 f which are connectedby a network 7. In a preferred embodiment the communication within thenetwork 7 is accomplished according to the consumer electronics control(CEC) standard. According to the present invention the network comprisesseveral logical addresses which the electronic devices 1 a to 1 fobtain. Hereby, one of the electronic devices is a main electronicdevice 1 as will be further described in the following description.

The main electronic device 1 creates, holds and updates a list of allfurther electronic devices connected to the different logical addressesof the network 7. The functionality of the main electronic device isdefined during the production process by the manufacturer. Since thelist of connected electronic devices should always be up to date, thepresent invention provides several possibilities to update the list ofthe electronic devices connected to the network 7.

In case that the network 7 bases on the CEC standard, the mainelectronic device preferable is a television and the connected furtherelectronic devices may be for example a recording device, a playbackdevice, a tuner, and audio system or the like. The televisionfunctioning as main electronic device 1 can be adapted to show the listof the connected further electronic devices on the display within agraphical user interface (GUI).

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing the elements of a mainelectronic device 1 according to the present invention. The mainelectronic device comprises an input means 2 for enabling input of dataand/or information by a user. The input means 2 herefor may be akeyboard, a mouse, a touchpad, recognition of speech, an interface forreceiving data input over a remote controller, for example a infraredinterface, or any other interface enabling the user to input data and/orinformation are to select application programs. In addition, the mainelectronic device 1 comprises an output means 3 for outputting dataand/or information to a user. The output means 3 herefore may be adisplay, light emitting diodes (LED), a loud speaker or any othergraphical user interface adapted to output data and/or information tothe user.

A memory 5 is further provided for temporally or permanently storingdata, information, programs, applications and the like. The memory 5hereby may be divided into different memory spaces each providingdifferent types of memory, e.g. a random access memory RAM, a flashmemory or other types.

The input means 2, the output means 3 and the memory 5 are all connectedto and in data communication with a controller 4. The controller 4hereby controls and supervises the transmission and processing of dataand/or information within the main electronic device 1. The controller 4further supervises the operation of the main electronic device 1.

In addition the main electronic device 1 comprises an interface 6enabling a communication of the main electronic device 1 via the network7 with at least one further electronic device 1 a to 1 f. The interface6 hereby can be adapted to enable a wireless or wired connection withinthe network 7. Alternatively, the interface 6 may comprise a multitudeof interfaces each being adapted to communicate with a different furtherelectronic device. The interface 6 is also connected to and in datacommunication with the controller 4. The main electronic device 1 viathe interface 6 specifically is enabled to send messages to logicaladdresses within the network independently if an electronic device isconnected to said logical address or not.

In order to keep an overview which electronic devices are at presentconnected to the network 7 the present invention proposes severalmethods. The main idea is that the main electronic device 1 via theinterface 6 is enabled to communicate with the connected electronicdevices. The controller 4 herefore via the interface 6 sends pollingmessages via the network 7 in order to request information fromelectronic devices which are connected to the network 7. Suchinformation may comprise the mere information that the electronic deviceis present or may also comprise further status information, e.g.information on the type, state and so forth of the further electronicdevice. Such information may further comprise the device type, physicaladdress, vendor ID, menu language setting and OSD name.

The present invention hereby covers two scenarios. The first case isthat all devices or at least the main electronic device 1 are switchedoff. In case that the main electronic device 1 is switched on or thatthe interface 6 and thereby the communication function of the mainelectronic device 1 is enabled, the present invention provides apossibility to create a list of all electronic devices that areconnected to the network 7 thereby reducing the communication over thenetwork 7.

In the second case, where the main electronic device 1 is alreadyswitched on and a further electronic device is connected to the network7, then the present invention provides an effective method of updatingthe list comprising all electronic devices connected to the network 7.

FIGS. 3a and 3b show flow charts showing the process steps according tothe first scenario of the present invention. FIG. 3a hereby shows a flowchart with the process steps in case that the main electronic device 1and optionally also other electronic devices within the network areswitched on, e.g. are powered on. FIG. 3b shows the case that the mainelectronic device 1 and the further electronic devices are alreadyswitched on and that the communication functionality, which in thepresent example is a CEC function is switched on in the main electronicdevice.

The process according to FIG. 3a begins in step S0. In the first step S1the main electronic device 1 is switched on, e.g. the power supply isswitched on. In this case, two processes will start. The first processis that the main electronic device 1 will send polling messages to alllogical addresses within the network 7 in order to request statusinformation from connected electronic devices. The second process isthat each electronic device connected to the network 7 may automaticallystart to send information to the main electronic device 1. This mayresult in a high traffic on the network 7, on the interface 6 of themain electronic device 1 and on all buses provided within the network 7.Specifically, this may result in unnecessary traffic within the network7, since the main electronic device 1 may send a polling message to alogical address and the electronic device connected to this logicaladdress may send automatically information regarding the status.

The present invention in order to reduce the traffic on the bustherefore proposes to send the polling messages to the logical addressesin a predefined order which allows to reduce the traffic within thenetwork 7. Specifically, the present invention proposes that the mainelectronic device 1 polls the logical address first which is less likelyto be occupied by an electronic device. That is to say that in case thatelectronic devices are connected to the network 7, there is a certainorder how the electronic devices occupy the logical addresses. Forexample, within a CEC network where there are provided logical addressesfrom 0 to 14, the electronic devices will first occupy logical addresseshaving a lower number. The present invention therefore proposes to polllogical addresses first having a higher number and which are less likelyto be occupied by an electronic device. Specifically, the presentinvention proposes within a CEC network to poll the logical addressesfrom the higher address to the lower address, e.g. to poll the logicaladdresses from 14 to 0.

This is shown in FIG. 3a as steps S2 and S3. These steps are executedconcurrently, that is the main electronic device 1 in step S2 polls thelogical addresses in the order from 14 to 0 and at the same timereceives information in step S3 sent from electronic devices via thenetwork. Since the main electronic device 1 polls the logical addressesin an order being contrary to the probability that the logical addressis occupied by an electronic device crossing messages and doublemessages as explained above are avoided. Since CEC electronic devicestake logical addresses nearer to 0 with a higher possibility they areaccording to the present invention polled later than they would be withthe usual device discovery. This gives the electronic devices connectedto the network 7 a higher possibility to report there existence beforethey are polled.

In the next step S4 the main electronic device checks whether it hasalready received information from some of the electronic devicesconnected to the network 7. In case the main electronic device 1 hasalready received information from some of the electronic devices thenthe according logical addresses are not polled even if until now theyhave not been polled.

Thereby unnecessary polling messages can be avoided. The main idea istherefore that the electronic devices connected with the network havethe chance to report information about themselves before they arerequested to do so by the polling messages send by the main electronicdevice 1. Redundant messages and therefore higher bus traffic can beavoided with higher possibility with the proposed advanced devicediscovery. Because sending and receiving messages is the most timeconsuming task during device discovery it is possible to reduce the timeneeded to finish the device discovery if the amount of messages to besent or received is reduced. If the device discovery can be finishedearlier it is also possible to show information about the connectedelectronic devices to the user earlier.

In step S5 the main electronic device 1 then creates a list of allfurther electronic devices connected to the network 7. The process endsin step S6, e.g. with switching off the main electronic device.

FIG. 3b shows the method in the case that the main electronic device isalready switched on but that the communication function has not yet beenswitched on. The process begins in step S10. In step S11 thecommunication functionality, in the present example the CECfunctionality is switched on within the main electronic device 1. In thenext step S12 the main electronic device will then send a CEC on messagevia the network 7 in order to cause the electronic devices connected tothe network 7 to also switch on the communication or CEC functionality.This step S12 depending on the used communication standard can also beomitted. In the next process steps S13 and S14 polling messages are sentto the logical addresses and information is received from the furtherelectronic devices connected to the network 7 as it was alreadyexplained with respect to FIG. 3 a.

This further steps S15 to S17 correspond to the steps S4 and S6 asalready explained in FIG. 3a . In any case the main electronic device 1is not polling the own logical address.

After the list is created there is the problem that a newly connectedelectronic devices may not be detected. With reference to FIG. 4 amethod overcoming this problem according the present invention istherefore described. The process begins in step S20 and in the firststep S21 the main electronic device sends polling messages to one, someor all logical addresses within the network 7. Hereby, it is possible,that the main electronic device 1 sends polling messages only to thoselogical addresses where until now no electronic devices have beendetected.

In the next step S22 the controller 4 of the main electronic device 1checks whether a newly connected electronic device has been detectedthat is whether an answer has been received after the polling message.In case that the a newly connected electronic device has been detectedthen in the next step S23 further information can be queried from thenewly connected electronic device, e.g. the status, type and the like ofthe electronic device.

In the next step S24 this queried information from the newly connectedelectronic device is received and in the next step S25 the list ofelectronic devices connected to the network 7 is updated. Otherwise, ifin step S22 no newly connected electronic device is detected, then theprocess continuous with step S25 where the list is either updated ormaintained as previously.

In the next step S26 the controller 4 checks whether further pollingmessages are provided. In case that further polling messages areprovided, the process goes back to step S21 where polling messages aresent to logical addresses. Otherwise, if in step S26 it is decided thatno further polling messages are provided then the process ends with stepS27. Hereby, a predefined time interval may be kept between sending thepolling messages, e.g. the polling messages may only be sent every 10seconds in order to reduce the traffic within the network 7. A value of10 s would be a compromise between the detection time of a connection ordisconnection of an electronic device and the bus traffic.

It is to be noted that the above explained method can also be used todetect newly disconnected devices. In case that after sending a pollingmessage to a previously occupied logical address no answer is received,then the main electronic device 1 will know that the respective logicaladdress is not occupied any more and will remove the respectiveelectronic device from the list.

The above method enables a simplified connection and disconnection ofelectronic devices. The user just has to connect an electronic deviceand it will automatically be detected and installed, e.g. all deviceinformation will be available. On the other hand the user just has todisconnect an electronic device and it will be automatically removedfrom the list.

The present invention with the described methods provides a wide fieldof possibilities how to create and constantly update a list ofelectronic devices connected by a network 7. The list can be shown on agraphical user interface thereby enabling the user to always keep anoverview of the electronic devices and to be enabled to control theconnected electronic devices.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An electronic device configured to receivea polling message from an external device that is configured to sendfirst and second rounds of polling messages to logical addresses thateach correspond to an electronic device within a consumer electronicscontrol (CEC) network, a number of polling messages sent in the secondround of polling messages being the same or less than a number ofpolling messages sent in the first round of polling messages, theelectronic device comprising: an interface configured to receive apolling message in the first round of the polling messages sent from theexternal device to a logical address of the electronic device within theCEC network; and send information to the external device in response tothe polling message.
 2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein theinterface is configured to receive the polling message after a power onoperation is performed at the electronic device.
 3. The electronicdevice of claim 1, further comprising: a controller, wherein theinterface is configured to receive an enable message from the externaldevice before receiving the polling message, and the controller isconfigured to switch on a communication function of the electronicdevice in response to the enable message.
 4. The electronic device ofclaim 3, wherein the enable message is a CEC on message, and thecommunication function is a CEC function.
 5. The electronic device ofclaim 1, wherein the information sent to the external device indicatesthat the electronic device is present in the CEC network.
 6. Theelectronic device of claim 1, wherein the information sent to theexternal device is status information including at least one of devicetype, physical address, vendor ID, menu language setting or OSD name. 7.The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is arecording device, a playback device, a tuner or audio system.
 8. Theelectronic device of claim 1, wherein the interface is configured toreceive the polling message after connecting to the CEC network.
 9. Theelectronic device of claim 8, wherein the interface is configured toreport an existence in the CEC network to the external device.
 10. Theelectronic device of claim 1, further comprising: a remote controllerconfigured to receive at least one of data input by a user or a userselection of an application program.
 11. The electronic device of claim10, wherein the remote controller includes an infrared interface.
 12. Amethod performed by an electronic device configured to receive a pollingmessage from an external device that is configured to send first andsecond rounds of polling messages to logical addresses that eachcorrespond to an electronic device within a consumer electronics control(CEC) network, a number of polling messages sent in the second round ofpolling messages being the same or less than a number of pollingmessages sent in the first round of polling messages, the methodcomprising: receiving, by an interface of the electronic device, apolling message in the first round of the polling messages sent from theexternal device to a logical address of the electronic device within theCEC network; and sending, by the interface, information to the externaldevice in response to the polling message.
 13. The method of claim 12,further comprising: receiving, by the interface, the polling messageafter a power on operation is performed at the electronic device. 14.The method of claim 12, further comprising: receiving, by the interface,an enable message from the external device before receiving the pollingmessage; and switching on, by a controller of the electronic device, acommunication function of the electronic device in response to theenable message.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the enable messageis a CEC on message, and the communication function is a CEC function.16. The method of claim 12, wherein the information sent to the externaldevice indicates that the electronic device is present in the CECnetwork.
 17. The method of claim 12, wherein the information sent to theexternal device is status information including at least one of devicetype, physical address, vendor ID, menu language setting or OSD name.18. The method of claim 12, wherein the electronic device is a recordingdevice, a playback device, a tuner or audio system.
 19. The method ofclaim 12, further comprising: receiving, by the interface, the pollingmessage after connecting to the CEC network.
 20. The method of claim 19,further comprising: reporting, by the interface, an existence in the CECnetwork to the external device.
 21. The method of claim 12, furthercomprising: receiving, from a remote controller, at least one of datainput by a user or a user selection of an application program.
 22. Themethod of claim 21, wherein the remote controller includes an infraredinterface.
 23. An electronic device configured to receive a pollingmessage from an external device that is configured to send first andsecond rounds of polling messages to logical addresses that eachcorrespond to an electronic device within a consumer electronics control(CEC) network, a number of polling messages sent in the second round ofpolling messages being the same or less than a number of pollingmessages sent in the first round of polling messages, the electronicdevice comprising: means for receiving a polling message in the firstround of the polling messages sent from the external device to a logicaladdress of the electronic device within the CEC network; and means forsending information to the external device in response to the pollingmessage.